Adele and One Direction have helped
stem the decline in US album sales, which dropped just 0.6% in the first six months of 2012.
Adele’s 21 is the best-selling album of the year to date, selling 3.7 million copies, while a further 539,000 people bought her first album, 19.
Boy band One Direction take third place in the chart, shifting 899,000 copies of their debut, Up All Night.
In total, 220 million albums have been sold this year, analysts Nielsen said.
Overall, the US music market continued the recovery that began last year.
Total music sales – including singles, albums, music videos and digital tracks – stand at 853 million, up from 820 million in 2011.
Digital sales from stores like iTunes and Amazon have largely been responsible for reversing a slump that has affected the industry since 2004.
However, CD is still the dominant format – responsible for 91 million sales, or 61% of the album market.
The top 10 best-selling albums are:
1. Adele – 21 (3,668,000)
2. Lionel Richie – Tuskegee (912,000)
3. One Direction – Up All Night (899,000)
4. Whitney Houston – Greatest Hits (818,000)
5. Various Artists – Now 41 (714,000)
6. Carrie Underwood – Blown Away (602,000)
7. Luke Bryan – Tailgates and Tan lines (575,000)
8. Nicki Minaj – Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (557,000)
9. Drake – Take Care (549,000)
10. Adele – 19 (539,000)
Before the advent of Napster and other illegal download services, America’s most popular albums rarely dropped below the five million figure.
In 1999 and 2000, the Backstreet Boys and ‘NSync managed to sell in excess of nine million copies of their albums. (Agencies)